Look Both Ways

All is not well in the Australian suburbs. Nervy thirtysomething Meryl (Justine Clarke) imagines disasters at every turn, from horrific train accidents to shark attacks in the local swimming pool, non-existent calamities that director Sarah Watt makes real in the form of watercolour animations – we see the dark side of Meryl’s mind. Fear also dominates the life of Nick (William McInnes), a photographer who is diagnosed with testicular cancer: he can’t help but recall the grim details of his father’s death from the same disease and creates harrowing images in his mind of multiplying cells. There’s more: Nick’s colleague, journalist Andy (Anthony Hayes) has an unwanted pregnancy on his hands, while neighbour Julia (Daniela Farinacci) is grieving for the loss of her husband. Cluttered? Yes. Is this yet another slice-of-life narrative diluted by too many characters and a misguided desire to make grand statements about all life and not just one? Sadly, yes. While Watt (an animator making her live-action and feature debut) begins to offer an interesting study in paranoia, tinged with some good comic moments, her multi-stranded plot and last-minute recourse to romance ultimately lost the interest of this viewer.